Cooperation agreement between the European Economic and Social Committee and the European Parliament

The European Economic and Social Committee and the European Parliament have signed a new cooperation agreement that will help build closer ties and give the Committee a bigger role as a policy advisor to the European Parliament.

Signed by EESC President Oliver Röpke and EP President Roberta Metsola on 14 May, the agreement contains some key political achievements and officially enshrines some working practices that have been trialled over the last few years, in particular:

• high-level bilateral meetings with the EP President, its Vice-President for relations with the EESC, and the chair of the EP Conference of Committee Chairs;
• meetings between chairs of parliamentary committees and presidents of EESC sections and between EP and EESC rapporteurs working on common files;
• the participation of EESC rapporteurs in EP committee debriefings on trilogues;
• the participation of the EESC President in the EP Conference of Committee Chairs.

The EP acknowledges the importance of the EESC’s advisory role throughout the pre-legislative, legislative and post-legislative phases of EU policymaking and the systemic impact of European organised civil society on EU policies and legislations. It recognises the relevance of EESC exploratory opinions, and the procedure that allows parliamentary committees to request such opinions has been clarified.

Under the agreement, the EESC can also be requested to carry out ex-post evaluations for the EP on a jointly agreed list of EU regulations and programmes.

The EP and the EESC have stated their willingness to go even further than the new agreement in the future, for example though thematic and administrative bilateral agreements and action plans.

Read the full text of the cooperation agreement here.